29 March 2016

RUSSIA 2018/UAE 2019 QUALIFIERS: PHILIPPINES 3-2 DPR KOREA

Manila: The Philippines advanced to the third round of qualifying for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup after beating DPR Korea 3-2 in their 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifier at Rizal Memorial Stadium on Tuesday.

The hosts finished their game either in third or fourth spot but a later 1-0 defeat of Bahrain by Uzbekistan in the other match of their group confirmed the Filipinos' third-place finish in the joint-qualifying campaign.

It took the Azkals 43 minutes to open the scoring through Misagh Bahadoran who headed home from close range following a brilliant feed from Javier Patino, but the jubilation did not last long as DPR Korea’s So Kyong-jin equalised two minutes into stoppage time of the first half.

And the Koreans did not waste much time to take over the lead as Ri Hyok-chol scored just three minutes into the second half causing the hosts to push hard for an equaliser.

They finally got it 36 minutes later as an exquisite flick from Miguel Tanton set up Manuel Ott, who drove the ball into the bottom corner.

The Philippines’ substitute Iain Ramsay was then booked by the referee on 90 minutes but that did not stop him from scoring barely a minute later when he found himself in plenty of space to drill the ball into the Koreans’ net and the home crowd went wild to celebrate their 3-2 win over the visitors.

Eight group winners will advance to the third round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, as well as straight to the 2019 Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates, along with the four best runners-up.

The other four runners-up will progress to the third round of qualifying for the Asian Cup, along with all the third-placed teams and the four best fourth-placed teams.